(9 of 11)
A member of Lady Bird Johnson's committee to beautify the capital, and Interior Secretary Stewart Udall's man on the spot to improve the Mall, Owings also rides herd on the committee to redesign Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House to the Capitol — Washington's "grand axis" in Pierre L'Enfant's original scheme. Appointed to the committee by John F. Kennedy in 1962, the architect has moved his bulldozer capabilities into high gear, taking every available scrap of power "on the theory that if I was not supposed to have it, someone would tell me." President Johnson helped by appointing eight Cabinet members to sit in on the committee. As a result, plans are coordinated at the top; funds, instead of being spent piecemeal, are pooled.
Shoe Under the Curtain. Owings —and the committee's — goal is to turn Pennsylvania Avenue into Washington's ceremonial street — a rival to Paris' Champs-Elysées. When completed, it will run straight and wide from a great reflecting pool at the foot of the Capitol to a National Square before the White House. Crucial to the plan is the 75-ft. setback along the avenue's north side, which is already being redeveloped by the Government and private entrepreneurs. To keep the setback, Owings has had to deploy his considerable powers of suasion. When he learned that the FBI intended to build a new headquarters right out to the old sidewalk line, he called on J. Edgar Hoover, urged him to redesign the projected structure. After listening to Owings' impassioned plea, Hoover nodded agreement.
When a second building threatened to break ranks, Owings took a different tack. Developer Jerry Wolman planned to jut a commercial building onto the generous sidewalk area. Owings explained that this would ruin the grand effect, like a shoe protruding from under a curtain. Wolman finally agreed to change the building. Owings flew to Boston with Wolman to arrange the new financing, then back to the capital to get the developer a zoning variance to add an extra floor. A lot of effort, but the grand design for the avenue was kept intact.
Into the Fifth Dimension. While supervising the Washington project, Owings has involved S.O.M.'s office there in a project that he describes as "the most important job S.O.M. has ever tackled." Surprisingly, it does not involve erecting a single building. The architects are studying ways of designing an 18-mile-long strip of Interstate 95 that will go through the heart of Baltimore. Secretary of Transportation Alan Boyd, whose department is financing the study with a special $4.8 million grant, says of Owings' effort: "The potential there is immense. Communities must decide for themselves what they want their cities to look like."